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OACMP/DeveloperFAQ
F.A.Q. for developers Who can enter? * Anyone, as long as they respect the rules of the mappack. (See below) They don't need to be mappers, even if they can't produce assets, this doesn't mean that they can't test the maps themselves and give feedback. Style * It's up to the mapper to choose it.This implies that also maps inspired by other games/existing maps are allowed (but, of course, does not allow to copy-paste or copy-edit-paste copyrighted material!). Rules * GPLv2 compliance. This means, the final release should contain sources for each asset which isn't already in OA itself, and the license file. This counts especially for third-party assets. Reasons for this: maintenance (we can correct what's wrong), easiness of maintenance (we won't need to distribute separate parts of the package with it's own license), and compliance with OA's GPL. This also brings the benefit of including this package in practically the same places as OA can be distributed (official repositories, commercial distros, bundles) without problems. ** Related: Assets should be GPLv2-compliant. This is, Public Domain stuff and already GPL/GPLv2 stuff is allowed. Stuff made from scratch is allowed as well, as long as you provide the sources and a license file. Everything else (CC, copyrighted stuff -!-) is disallowed. Same reasons as above. ** A few examples about "providing sources" requirement: if the map includes a texture you created with GIMP or Photoshop, please supply its .xcf or .psd file, respectively (other than the texture file itself -such as .tga or .jpg-, of course). If the map includes a "mapobject" 3D model you created with Blender, please supply its .blend and .md3 files (the "source" is the .blend file, however also the .md3 file is useful). * The map should work 100% into a vanilla OA folder. This means: they shouldn't have other requirements such as compatibility texture packages. The reason is (for testing purposes) that non-official PK3 getting in the way of testing causes us unnecessary headaches and (for playing purposes) most of the people who play OA for the first time will surely have a clean installation. This counts double for testers, as they should make sure there're no other pk3 files in their baseoa folder other than the default ones and the maps from the pack. ** Also, after every new version of the pack, they should also clean up their testing folder, otherwise, they may possibly see issues which were already solved. * Botplay AAS files required. Like said before, not everyone wants to play OA online for different reasons. Every map should have support for OA bots. * Stick to default OA gametypes. Once again, this pack is aimed to those who have a clean OA installation, and not everyone has mods or mod support. * Longname/message and music recommended. Not having at least one of those items make the map (and, by extension, the pack) to feel unfinished. Tips * It's a good idea to use naming conventions to distinguish different versions of the same map. The same could be applied to, for example, shader files. * Every FFA map is able to support Last Man Standing regardless of size, so it's a good idea to specify this in the .arena file. * Big FFA maps are able to support Team Deathmatch. * Any CTF map is able to support each and every single of the objective-based team gametypes, namely CTF, One Flag CTF, Harvester, Overload, Elimination, CTF Elimination and Double Domination. * For Elimination, it's recommended to use the team_CTF_red/bluespawn spawnpoints, so each team has a place of start. * Maps with very differentiated areas can support Domination. Resources * SimonOC's egyptsoc texture pack, GPL'd by way of Nexuiz. * Evillair's texture packs, also GPL'd by way of Nexuiz. Troubleshooting Before reporting a problem, check if you have additional packages in your game paths. More often than not, most of the common problems have to do with third-party packages (texture compatibility packs or other maps, for example) interfering with the pack or the game's assetsPackages of the game: pak0.pk3, pak1-maps.pk3, pak2-players.pk3, pak2-players-mature.pk3, pak4-textures.pk3, pak5-TA.pk3, pak6-misc.pk3, pak6-patch085.pk3 and pak6-patch088.pk3. Moving those extra .pk3 files to another place will do the trick. Notes See also * DeveloperFAQ * Mapping resources & tutorials * Graphics resources & tutorials